People in support of asylum seekers rally near the Supreme Court in Washington April 26, 2022. Photo: CNS photo/Elizabeth Frantz, Reuters Unaccommodated asylum seekers living in “unacceptable and shocking living conditions” will be repeated if the Government doesn’t begin an emergency response, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Ireland have warned.
“The time for action is now” if Ireland wants to avoid a repeat of the “shocking, squalid and unsafe” living conditions 150 asylum seekers were living in outside the International Protection Office (IPO) in Dublin, JRS Ireland’s national director Eugene Quinn warned.
“Immediate action and a whole of Government response is required to prevent potentially an ever-greater humanitarian crisis from developing on the streets of Dublin and in other cities in Ireland,” said Ms Quinn.
“The Government must take control and create the conditions that allow people seeking protection to live with dignity.”
At the end of January 2024, JRS Ireland was contacted for assistance by a group of eight asylum seekers who were homeless and were living in tents near the IPO, the charity said in a statement.
“From that time JRS has supported a rapidly growing settlement of asylum seekers living in tents in the alleys behind the IPO through weekly outreach, accompaniment, and the provision of vouchers to help meet their basic material needs,” a spokesperson said.